Trucks, such as dump trucks, have commonly been used to convey materials such as salt, cinders, chemicals and/or sand for the purposes of spreading these materials onto road surfaces to improve the traction of the road surface during hazardous conditions. The materials in the truck are commonly dispensed by tilting the dump body of the truck thereby releasing the goods from the dump body and/or conveying the materials within the dump body out through an opening in the rear of the dump body. The materials which are conveyed out through the rear of the dump body can be spread by use of a spinner which creates a wide spray pattern behind the rear of the truck as the truck moves in the forward direction
In some applications, it is sometimes desirable to be able to spread the particulate material in a relatively narrow strip in the road. In such circumstances, a broadcast spinner design cannot perform such a function since the spinner sprays the material over a wide area on the ground surface. In order to prevent the broadcast spraying of the particulate material, a material guide must be positioned closely adjacent to the rotating spinner so as to narrow the spread of particulate materials being deposited onto the ground surface. One such spreader design is disclosed in Assignee's U.S. Letters Patent Nos. 5,842,649 and 5,947,391. The spreader can spread particulate material in a broadcast spreader mode or in a narrow band. The spreader can be controlled to ensure that a substantially set amount of particulate material is dispensed over a ground surface irrespective of the speed of the truck. The spreader also can dispense particulate material in a substantially narrow band on the ground surface irrespective of the vehicle velocity. The design of the spreader guide of the spreader also reduces caking problems associated with past spreader guide designs.
Although the spreader disclosed in the '649 patent and '391 patent is a significant advancement, such spreaders cannot easily be adapted for use on a wide variety of trucks. Consequently, specialty trucks are necessary to mount and properly use the spreader. In view of this problem, there is a demand for a mounting arrangement for spreaders that can be mounted and used on a variety of trucks. There is also a demand for a mounting arrangement which can easily align the spreader on the vehicle so that proper dispensement of particulate material on the ground surface is achieved. There is a farther demand for a mounting arrangement which can easily move the spreader between an operational position and a storage position to enhance the versatility of use of the spreader and the truck. There is still a further demand for a mounting arrangement for a spreader which minimizes damage to the spreader when the spreader is in the operational position.